“who I am is a TRASH FIRE so THANK YOU FOR THAT YOU PIECE OF SHIT”
is what I’m reading into this
(this all vaguely unsettles me in the same way as when I have those vivid nightmares of my husband broke up with me bc *cannot remember why bc IT DIDN’T HAPPEN but somehow it DID and whaaaaaaa*)
Apparently a lot of ways to see it. I was reading it as “I went down that path because of my own choices and am going down this path because of my own choices. You blaming yourself for my bad decisions is really condescending while also being whiny and self-critical and indulgent all at the same time. I am not defined by you and you aren’t defined by me, so actually move on already!”
I wonder if it’s tied to her philosophy. Look at the advice she gave Walky after his breakup.
Is she just covering to keep Ruth from seeing she’s hurt?
I think this is foreshadowing (from our perspective). Maybe Ruth is throwing back what Jennifer said in anger at some point regarding their breakup, but on her side those are “Billie”‘s words and she doesn’t want to hear it because:
A. That’s a low blow, and
B. it’s worrying to hear that statement come out of Ruth because it sounds like something she would’ve said when she was at the bottom of her depressive swing.
i tried to reply to this in agreement but something is wrong with me and i clicked “flag” by accident so apologies in advance if anything happens because of that
You should be good. I believe flagging a comment doesn’t do anything besides increment a counter until a comment hits 5 flags. At 5 the comment gets hidden from public and put in Willis’s mod queue. But he can easily reapprove the comment. As far as I know, there isn’t anything like a “comment score” linked to our names where being flagged a certain number of times makes all of our comments need to be approved.
Cannot wait for the next storyline to find out WHAT THE HELL ACTUALLY HAPPENED seriously, there is just so much salt here that doesn’t seem accounted for, it’s like one of those road salt storage warehouses.
In happier news I got that job I mentioned interviewing for last Tuesday, and everything about it (including the $) is aces! To celebrate I bought a switch and my first pokemon game in a decade (last one I played came out in 2012). I…didn’t sleep much last night.
Shield. Since it’s been so long there are a ton of new things I think are great improvements, such as:
– XP for catching pokemon. Turns the catching thing from an early/midgame detriment (as you previously didn’t get xp) into something you actually want to do
– can see the 3d mons running around in the grass, in order to avoid or run into them as desired. some are still hidden as grass rustles though so it’s not too easy.
– constant box and trade access everywhere. constant flight access to a bunch of areas, not just cities.
– pokemarts and pokecenters are now just the same building
– was easily able to self-trade the starters to myself all on the same console. back in my day etc. *shakes cane*
Downsides: your rival is somehow an even bigger joke than when they were player named (Dickface, Dumass, etc) back in the day. Like, seriously Hop, try harder. Or try at all.
“Finished”? Such a thing never happens, that’s the best part. But mostly done, sure, that’ll happen. I’ll keep Legends Arceus in mind.
If your eldest has Sword I would suggest grabbing Shield, for that sweet trading coverage of stuff missing from the other version. Trading seems to be a million times easier than it used to be.
I’d like Alolan Raichu if it didn’t have such a DOGSHIT ability. It’s worse than Static, It’s WAY worse than lightning rod. An ability that REQUIRES you lay down electric terrain is so BAD because it basically just takes up a moveslot and also what’s the point of being faster in electric terrain if you have to waste a turn setting it up.
OR
You can be on the same team as a TapuKoko and I honestly…can’t imagine WHY you would want both a Raichu and Tapukoko on the same team. There’s WAY better options if you need a Psychic special attacker and Tapu already matches it in STAB electric damage.
I can’t FATHOM why they won’t just give my boy Levitate. Like…It gains more weaknesses from its psychic typing so it’d be cool if it lost its weakness to ground.
I’m sorry, Alolan Raichu is cute as all get out but I hate Surge Surfer so much.
Asking the hard questions. I lost my DS in…2015?…so I haven’t seen any of the pokemon I have on my HG/SS or Diamond/Pearl copies for AGES. Plenty to choose from too, my dex was effectively complete minus event legendries…
Imma go with Garchomp, because that was my primary beater for the Trainer Tower challenges (all opponents were your level, teams of 3, fights in sequence). Pseudo-legendary and something like Smogon/competitive pokemon puts it in the legendary category, but the game didn’t. Kingdra #2.
In Pokemon Go I caught a Pikachu dressed as a luchador. That one’s pretty cool.
In other news I lost all respect for my spell check because it doesn’t know Pikachu. It wants to change it to Chukka? Na Ni?
Getting me out of lurking. Miltank! Look, she made ten-year-old boys cry and I am here for that. Followed by our lord and savior Bidoof, Eevee, Dragonair, Gardevoir, and Garchomp.
Thank you, Deathjavu. I just have to cast a wide net, be honest about where I’ll need extra help and where I’ll shine, and not get too hung up on any one application. Plenty of fish in the sea, and it’s not a personal rejection if my application doesn’t check all their boxes.
I am happy and hopeful for you in your new year position. You are gonna rock the house!
Nah. Jennifer was trying to get Ruth laid. She wants Ruth to move on. All the hints so far are leaning to Ruth being the one who broke things off and she’s acting like that was doing Jen a favor which is really insulting. That’s my theory so far.
The part that probably pissed her off was the “I was just keeping you from becoming who you are”, and how that implies that she wasn’t herself during their relationship. She is dismissing Jennifer’s faults as her own, blaming herself for what had happened even though Jennifer is just as much to blame for what happened in their relationship that Ruth had, if not more.
There is obviously still a part of Jennifer that cares about Ruth a lot, which is why she stopped when Ruth mentioned she moved on and had a boyfriend, but Ruth’s constant self deprecation anytime they talk can get very annoying with how many times Jennifer tried to convince her of her worth.
It’s just a bit more awkward because that was Jennifer’s line back during their last pre-timeskip fight. That Ruth was getting better and they shouldn’t be together anymore because Jennifer was poison and would ruin her.
Wanting Ruth to get laid specifically with her boss isn’t the same as wanting her to ACTUALLY ‘move on’.
Plenty of people say ‘you should date’ and what they REALLY want is for you to work out that it ‘isn’t the same/good enough’ and ask for them back or stay single because other people are ‘disappointing’. But that is a toxic way of thinking and it also doesn’t work, because there are plenty of good people out there and most people can have satisfying relationships with multiple different people.
Given Jennifer was Top Toxic Cheerleader, it is really hard to tell if she feels insulted for the reasons you stated or using toxic logic, she is actually Big Mad that Ruth didn’t fight for her or chase her. That she didn’t even try to. That she was willing to let her go and try to find love somewhere else.
Jennifer likes drama sure but she’s not been as toxic as you seem to think. Not in this way. Wanting Sal to be jealous of her boyfriend is different than wanting her ex to be hung up on her. Jen seems happy with Asher and cares enough about Ruth to also want her to be happy.
She literally encouraged Walky to be a jerk with Dorothy before because they broke up. Jennifer has not been shown to have the healthiest ideas about love or how to manage break-ups.
This might have changed because of the therapy. So what you have said is possible. But we also know that Jennifer thought it was romantic that Jason slept with Sal over grades. So I’m not fully convinced there is no warping here.
Did you read that entire storyline where Jennifer tried to hook Ruth up with Daisy? How toxic she reacted? Like. That was thermonuclear levels of toxicity right there. She’s doing alright when it comes to most other people, but it seems when it comes to Ruth in particular she turns into the absolute worst version of herself, with borderline comical levels of toxicity spewing out of every pore.
Jennifer was also trying to use getting Ruth laid to benefit her ambition in journalism, and Jennifer’s anger vanished when Ruth could be useful to her.
She’d said to Jennifer that she’d ended up going home with the bartender on her birthday, so it makes sense to me. It’s not like she expected Jennifer to be like “Congratulations! What’s his name?”
I guess it’s for context since Jennifer probably doesn’t know his name? Then again Ruth does seem to be a bit lost so maybe she doesn’t actually remember Jason’s name.
Some people are fickle and they tell you to date someone new. But in truth they don’t really mean that and they just at the most want you to sleep around a once or twice and then stand by and be ready while they sort out their own feelings.
Ok I drew Carol. It seemed like a thing people wanted to see.
Probably won’t ever draw her again but who knows! https://i.imgur.com/itc7nlG.png (questionable)
I usually like to see MILFs, but Carol was not at the top of my list (top of the list would be Amber’s mom).
That said, if I were him, those would probably be my fondest memories of her, too.
Especially after she’s been given the Yotomoe treatment.
I want to see it. Stacy is also probably tied with her yeah. Carol is top quality milf. I could change her! Actually probably not though. It wouldn’t be worth it. Still gotta respect the quality.
Sirksome….. we’re in the same boat together. I know I can’t change her but I would try my damnedest.
Ambers mom is a stone cold babe and the world is better with her in it. I can already see it now- Stacy, feeling spicy and alive again with her new husband, trying to get into cosplaying with amber and accidentally going viral because of her poorly fitting costumes. Amber is mortified, Joe furious that his dad made this weird, Stacy is living her best life.
Kind of reminds me of that scene in the “Back to the Barnyard Movie” with that one married couple where the wife if going of on the phone and ranting and the husband is sitting on his chair and to me it looks like he’s thinking “Why did I marry her again?” And it cuts to a scene of her dumptruck ass just swaying all over the place and I feel like he’s also thinking “Oh that’s right.”
Wasn’t there a strip of Hank and Carol meeting, where Hank sees her and is struck dumb? Maybe a really old bonus strip? It was pretty clear there what he saw in her 😂
Did Ruth break up with Jennifer? Did we ever get one of them saying who broke up with who? This feels like a “See, you’re doing better without me” from Ruth and a “Heck you for leaving me like that” from Jennifer kinda???
I‘m not sure about Jennifer’s reaction. If she still thinks the real her is a drunk asshole who should not be around people, she could be reacting to that (ie she doesn’t want to be who she really is).
Even if Ruth did end it, that doesn’t exclude the possibility of Jennifer being mad that she didn’t chase her. Like. We have seen before that her ideas of love are not the healthiest. Which makes it hard to say if Jennifer is bothered by Ruth’s reasoning or she is mad because of toxic logic.
Yeah, I’m positive that’s what happened, judging by some past stuff said. I’m getting the impression Ruth felt she had been the weak link all alone and not Jennifer/Billie.
What’s the situation with Jennifer’s parents, BTW? Some references make it sound like they are split, some references make it sound like they are together.
IIRC her dad’s away on business trips a lot, and her mom sleeps around, but as far as I know they aren’t split up? I don’t think it’s clear whether Mr. B knows about his wife’s affairs or not.
… have these two broken up? Because I keep hearing that they’ve broken up, but then one or the other (Jennifer this time) says or does something that used to be foreplay for them, and I’m not sure any more.
i kinda figure they’re broken up on paper, but since they’re still doing the same things they did while together, they’re kinda still together? theirs has been the most emotionally complicated couple plot.
There’s a lot that can be said for doing something that you feel is the “right” move, rather than one you want to make, when it comes to relationships, but there’s also such a thing as self-destructive decisions, patronizing decisions made for your partner, and not respecting your partner’s agency, and I feel Ruth may have ended up in the latter camp out of misplaced noble intentions.
Okay folks time to put on your Sherlock Holmes hats cause I think I’ve solved their breakup. Remember months from now that it was Sirksome who got it right first….(Unless I’m wrong or someone came up with this before me.)
Okay first of all it’s pretty clear Ruth broke up with Billie/Jennifer now. All the classic signs are there. Jennifer’s sporting the post getting dumped haircut trope. Ruth essentially admitted it to Daisy on their date, and has asked Jennifer for forgiveness.
Why did they break up? Their common vice alcohol. But it’s not because of who you think. Ruth couldn’t quit drinking. This is proven by her getting drunk on her 21st birthday! I used to think it was Billie but Jennifer has not been shown consuming a drop post timeskip. Jennifer has also argued with Ruth claiming “she only thinks of herself” and cryptically telling Joyce “she’s cared too much” just recently at the doctor.
My current theory is that after Ruth got adjusted to her meds she wanted to go back to drinking but a fresh off therapy Billie wanted to stay sober, which is ironic since she was the one sneaking drinks their first attempt at sobriety. This is a fact Ruth probably brought up. So Ruth dumped her so Jennifer could go off into the sunset as a better person without the Ruth baggage. Fitting for Ruth since she is so self loathing.
That’s my theory. I called it. @ me in like five months or whatever to fact check this. I’ll still be reading them. We will all know.
My initial read is that Jennifer needs to climb out of her own ass and get over herself. I’m not saying that Ruth is handling this WELL but she seems to be casting for an olive branch of some kind.
Jennifer just seems to be deciding that if Ruth does something that benefits Jennifer, civility is OK, but anything NOT explicitly to her benefit is just rage fuel.
I really can’t understand Jennifer. Ruth seems happy now. This was what she wanted, but now she’s furious? Why? She actually wanted Ruth to be forever sad without her? What a disaster character she is?!
Everyone’s mad at Billie for not reacting appropriately, but her Ex just sorta vomited “I MOVED ON, AND HAVE A BOYFRIEND NOW” At her, and surprise, she’s not taking it super well.
Maybe let the scene play out before we start screaming at Jennifer for being a horrible rage monster that you can’t sympathize due to not understanding her.
It is still a swipe even if true as it was a passing comment she was making as an attack on Ruth’s character. Ruth only said one and a half sentences to her before she said it and neither warranted a hostile response, Jennifer just went in hostile.
It’s not an attack if it’s pointing out an established personality trait, is it also an attack on Ruth’s character if you point out she likes to threaten her charges with physical violation and femur removal?
Considering she’s the second person to say Ruth wants to do it, I’d say Jennifer “had no way of knowing that” in the same way we have no way of knowing if Mitch McConnell will support any progressive bills.
All the previous conversations between them seemed to focus around the fact that Jennifer wanted Ruth to move on and say something like that to her. Now Ruth did it and she’s angry… Sorry, but I can’t be on Jennifer’s sides in this strip. You can’t understand what she wants at all!
Yeah, I mean we can see that all over her face in this strip. She does seem to be trying though, and my point is that essentially nothing has been said in this strip by Ruth that Jennifer hasn’t said to her already.
It’s a Star Wars reference. (Return of the Jedi, specifically). When Obi-wan told Luke that Darth Vader killed his father, he explained later that the good man that was Anakin Skywalker died, and he became Darth Vader. So what he told Luke was true, from a certain point of view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nO0uJenOgw
IIRC That’s how they wallpapered over the plot hole caused by the “Vader is Luke’s father” retcon, a twist added after George Lucas was stuck polishing up the Empire Strikes Back script after the original writer died of cancer.
Jennifer, so contrary. In fact she seems to spend literally all her energy since the time skip trying to be the opposite of anything anyone suggests she might be. I think there is something she’s not honest with herself about. Whatever it might be.
(Well, in the best case, it could also be something that has to end with Asher’s head on a stick.)
Yes being intimate with Asher is probably very profitable for you. Unless either his bosses or their enemies decide it would be more profitable for them to kill you.
First, Asher doesn’t have bosses. The entire point of Baline being able to blackmail him is that Asher is no longer working for the mob.
Second, between Ruth and Asher, only of them has routinely assaulted people under their care, and it wasn’t Asher.
Third, I somehow just KNOW that you weren’t this concerned about potentially violent relatives when Amber was dating someone, even though Blaine is definitely the most violent person to appear in the comic so far.
No, I’m this concerned about potentially violent boyfriends. I don’t believe he’s completely free from the mob, and I don’t believe hurting people bothers him at all. I trust Ruth’s occasional thirst for femurs more than Asher’s perpetual bemused smirk. You don’t have to agree.
We can just say Ruth has bough a lot of “sure”s from me, with all we have seen about her struggles with responsibility and depression and the loss of her parents and being perpetually trapped with her little brother being held hostage by an abuser, and her many portrayed acts of compassion and tenderness, and trying to work on being better at the job she can’t escape.
Asher, meanwhile, has a huge “sure” deficit. It could change if we get to know more about him, but literally everything we have seen of him ranges from sketchy to reprehensible. I don’t even “want” to read about him or his friend group, they’re all among the least interesting and least sympathetic characters in the comic and I think I’d be happier if they went away before they finish dragging Jennifer down with them.
But, I should point out, I’m sure you have your reasons for liking him, or if it’s disliking everyone else more. I don’t want to argue with them.
What I’m hearing Ruth say here is: I made the decision to have us break up for your own good. And also, I didn’t want you to relapse into being an asshole.
And man, that’s terrible. I genuinely thought Ruth had it together until that point. At the very least, throwing any of that at your ex is not how you make things better.
So, even if you weren’t happy that the ex you broke up with moved on, normally, you’d swallow that down and say “Good, I’m happy for you.” Jennifer’s anger just shows that she still cares, in her contrarian, self-destructive way.
Alternatively, Ruth did something that was a deal breaker to Jennifer, or Jennifer found out something about Ruth’s past that was a deal breaker, and Jennifer ended it, and in that regards it’s Ruth’s “fault”. It could go either way, really. Can’t wait for the next storyline…
Yeah maybe Jennifer is overreacting, we don’t know what went on between the two of them.
This kind of self-hatred inserted into an otherwise normal conversation is very distressing and disruptive though. The feelings are real and should be addressed…. but not by Jennifer who is no longer dating Ruth and is just trying to go about her business.
I looove angsty, messy sapphics so much. It’s just so damn interesting. How do you adjust to life after a history so deep you had a suicide pact? I gotta draw these girls.
Is it just me, or is this actually the first confirmation of Ruth/Jason relationship status beyond “hangs out in her room, sometimes in his undies, who knows if it’s committed relationship or just a few hookups or some weird thing that doesn’t actually fall under a sex/romance heading”?
Yeah why Ruth said here is a bit out of line, but I get the feeling she was saying it in an attempt to go “hey look it all worked out!” And Jennifer is. Well. Being herself, I guess. Absolutely never happy with someone doing the exact thing she’s doing herself.
Maybe I’m projecting but the kind of person that tries to “reinvent” themselves instead of just moving on always irks me. It’s fine to want a fresh start but that doesn’t mean you have to light a bridge on fire and go “LOOK AT HOW SO MUCH BETTER THIS IS!!”
Absolutely. Also change doesn’t come quickly, so a reinvention always strikes me as being some level of lying to oneself and everyone else, and I think it’s telling when the response to someone questioning a reinvention or acknowledging old patterns is met with anger.
You know I dont buy this all of a sudden she’s the mom of the group stuff I mean she was the one shrugging off school-ordered therapy and basing her meal plans on where she could get away with getting drunk by 10 am
Ruth may have eventually come to agree with that and that Billie would be better off without her. Billie took that badly (an understandable response) and became Jennifer to prove to Ruth (and herself) that people really can change.
I think the part Jennifer really took umbrage with was the “I was just stopping you from becoming who you are” to be honest, regardless of Ruth having moved on or no.
First it was Walky, and now Ruth; Jennifer is lashing out at anyone who reminds her, of when she was Billie. This so comes across as some serious self-loathing; she hates, “Billie”, or she has convinced herself of that; but instead of looking into why she feels that way, she blames those around her, for causing her to feel that way. She is going to lose everyone, if she does not address this.
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“who I am is a TRASH FIRE so THANK YOU FOR THAT YOU PIECE OF SHIT”
is what I’m reading into this
(this all vaguely unsettles me in the same way as when I have those vivid nightmares of my husband broke up with me bc *cannot remember why bc IT DIDN’T HAPPEN but somehow it DID and whaaaaaaa*)
Wow. I have many varieties of anxiety dream, but to my recollection, I have never had that one. And thank goodness – it sounds awful.
I was reading into it, “you broke my heart and now you’re pretending it was/is for my own good”, which, honestly, reasonable complaint.
I read “It infuriates me how you always think you’re awful”.
Apparently a lot of ways to see it. I was reading it as “I went down that path because of my own choices and am going down this path because of my own choices. You blaming yourself for my bad decisions is really condescending while also being whiny and self-critical and indulgent all at the same time. I am not defined by you and you aren’t defined by me, so actually move on already!”
if that’s the case, though, replying “i hate you more” is not exactly a way to make it better
To be fair, it is not her job to make it better.
Kind of a wild sentiment, this.
“Every time you open your mouth, I just hate you more.”
But it’s not her job to make it better. Does it have to be to avoid saying something like that?
I wonder if it’s tied to her philosophy. Look at the advice she gave Walky after his breakup.
Is she just covering to keep Ruth from seeing she’s hurt?
Maybe not, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask that she refrain from actively making it worse.
I think this is foreshadowing (from our perspective). Maybe Ruth is throwing back what Jennifer said in anger at some point regarding their breakup, but on her side those are “Billie”‘s words and she doesn’t want to hear it because:
A. That’s a low blow, and
B. it’s worrying to hear that statement come out of Ruth because it sounds like something she would’ve said when she was at the bottom of her depressive swing.
Oh I like that idea, too. Maybe we’ll get a backwards callback to it.
Billie bruh, chill. 😯
She could really use some weed.
A lot of characters here could really use some weed. 😙
*plays “Psychedelic” by Bensound on hacked muzak*
Given her repeated failure to use one mind altering substance responsibly, I’m not sure that substituting another one is the best of ideas.
Would have worked better without the last 2 sentences, Ruth
Yeah huh. This is going well, absolutely. No problems whatsoever.
I’m begging for This Was Halloween, I need to know.
It’s going to be messy as hell.
It starts on July 2nd, so luckily we don’t have to wait too long!
A story about my favorite holiday, that starts on my birthday, and is full of emotional drama…. Willis is so nice.
So we should be finding out what exactly happened between them next storyline right? What with it being called “this was Halloween”
Also I just noticed that 4 out of 5 of the storyline titles for the current book are song references
I think 4 in 5 chapter titles for the entire run have been song references.
How do we know that in advance?
If you look at the archive dropdown, currently the next three chapter titles are already listed.
An entire year of Halloween. Nice.
Ouch. But yeah I’d be mad if someone was bragging about moving onto Jason too. We both deserve better.
i tried to reply to this in agreement but something is wrong with me and i clicked “flag” by accident so apologies in advance if anything happens because of that
You should be good. I believe flagging a comment doesn’t do anything besides increment a counter until a comment hits 5 flags. At 5 the comment gets hidden from public and put in Willis’s mod queue. But he can easily reapprove the comment. As far as I know, there isn’t anything like a “comment score” linked to our names where being flagged a certain number of times makes all of our comments need to be approved.
Scrunchie savagely slays Suspenders – suspicions of sad and silent subtext slowly skyrocket.
Neat, True! I had no idea you were a Parssssssssseltongue of ssssssssssortsssss 😛 🐍
Skewered. Seriously.
hmmm feeling some sort of bad vibes between these two
ugh, these two should just fuck or something… ~<3
Don’t worry, that will probably happen in oh, 5 or 6 years of real world time from now.
Cannot wait for the next storyline to find out WHAT THE HELL ACTUALLY HAPPENED seriously, there is just so much salt here that doesn’t seem accounted for, it’s like one of those road salt storage warehouses.
In happier news I got that job I mentioned interviewing for last Tuesday, and everything about it (including the $) is aces! To celebrate I bought a switch and my first pokemon game in a decade (last one I played came out in 2012). I…didn’t sleep much last night.
Congrats on the job
Which pokemon game did you grab if you don’t mind me asking?
Shield. Since it’s been so long there are a ton of new things I think are great improvements, such as:
– XP for catching pokemon. Turns the catching thing from an early/midgame detriment (as you previously didn’t get xp) into something you actually want to do
– can see the 3d mons running around in the grass, in order to avoid or run into them as desired. some are still hidden as grass rustles though so it’s not too easy.
– constant box and trade access everywhere. constant flight access to a bunch of areas, not just cities.
– pokemarts and pokecenters are now just the same building
– was easily able to self-trade the starters to myself all on the same console. back in my day etc. *shakes cane*
Downsides: your rival is somehow an even bigger joke than when they were player named (Dickface, Dumass, etc) back in the day. Like, seriously Hop, try harder. Or try at all.
If you enjoy the running around and seeing mons in 3d, then I highly recommend Legends Arceus as well. Had a ton of fun with that one.
One obsession at a time! I got this yesterday afternoon and the game timer claims I’m on 20 hours… @_@
I wasn’t suggesting playing them at the same time or anything. **grin** Just making a suggestion for after you’ve finished Shield.
I haven’t finished Legends Arceus yet, but once I do, I’ll probably try out Sword or Shield. My eldest kid is currently enjoying Sword.
“Finished”? Such a thing never happens, that’s the best part. But mostly done, sure, that’ll happen. I’ll keep Legends Arceus in mind.
If your eldest has Sword I would suggest grabbing Shield, for that sweet trading coverage of stuff missing from the other version. Trading seems to be a million times easier than it used to be.
Worth it! 😆😆😆 Gotta catch ’em all!!!
What’s your favorite pokemon?
The question wasn’t for me but I’ll answer anyway.
Raichu.
It’s for everyone, really! 🤗
My favorites are Pikachu and Claydoll. 😍
I’m a basic bongo. Gardevoir all the way.
ALOLAN Raichu :smug:
I’d like Alolan Raichu if it didn’t have such a DOGSHIT ability. It’s worse than Static, It’s WAY worse than lightning rod. An ability that REQUIRES you lay down electric terrain is so BAD because it basically just takes up a moveslot and also what’s the point of being faster in electric terrain if you have to waste a turn setting it up.
OR
You can be on the same team as a TapuKoko and I honestly…can’t imagine WHY you would want both a Raichu and Tapukoko on the same team. There’s WAY better options if you need a Psychic special attacker and Tapu already matches it in STAB electric damage.
I can’t FATHOM why they won’t just give my boy Levitate. Like…It gains more weaknesses from its psychic typing so it’d be cool if it lost its weakness to ground.
I’m sorry, Alolan Raichu is cute as all get out but I hate Surge Surfer so much.
Favorite Pokémon thread. Mine’s the Treeko line. Grovyle being the favorite in that line.
Bulbasaur is the best one.
Mines Murkrow, love those goth mafia birds
Not as big a fan of its evolution Honchkrow though
Asking the hard questions. I lost my DS in…2015?…so I haven’t seen any of the pokemon I have on my HG/SS or Diamond/Pearl copies for AGES. Plenty to choose from too, my dex was effectively complete minus event legendries…
Imma go with Garchomp, because that was my primary beater for the Trainer Tower challenges (all opponents were your level, teams of 3, fights in sequence). Pseudo-legendary and something like Smogon/competitive pokemon puts it in the legendary category, but the game didn’t. Kingdra #2.
Er, copies of Pearl and Soul Silver, I don’t actually have both from those gens, not sure why I typed it as both.
Never actually watched or played any Pokémon (long story) but based purely on appearance alone I have to go with Eevee. It cute.
In Pokemon Go I caught a Pikachu dressed as a luchador. That one’s pretty cool.
In other news I lost all respect for my spell check because it doesn’t know Pikachu. It wants to change it to Chukka? Na Ni?
Mareep best Pokémon, all time. Magikarp close second.
Getting me out of lurking. Miltank! Look, she made ten-year-old boys cry and I am here for that. Followed by our lord and savior Bidoof, Eevee, Dragonair, Gardevoir, and Garchomp.
Hot take.
Jynx is cute
and hothttps://imgur.com/a/qN26yYu
Congratulations on your new job, Deathjavu! Happy dance! So glad for you!
Thanks! Hope your job application goes as well as mine!
Thank you, Deathjavu. I just have to cast a wide net, be honest about where I’ll need extra help and where I’ll shine, and not get too hung up on any one application. Plenty of fish in the sea, and it’s not a personal rejection if my application doesn’t check all their boxes.
I am happy and hopeful for you in your new year position. You are gonna rock the house!
Either whatever happened between them was thermonuclear in scale and fallout or Jennifer is REALLY mad that Ruth isn’t begging her to come back.
Nah. Jennifer was trying to get Ruth laid. She wants Ruth to move on. All the hints so far are leaning to Ruth being the one who broke things off and she’s acting like that was doing Jen a favor which is really insulting. That’s my theory so far.
The part that probably pissed her off was the “I was just keeping you from becoming who you are”, and how that implies that she wasn’t herself during their relationship. She is dismissing Jennifer’s faults as her own, blaming herself for what had happened even though Jennifer is just as much to blame for what happened in their relationship that Ruth had, if not more.
There is obviously still a part of Jennifer that cares about Ruth a lot, which is why she stopped when Ruth mentioned she moved on and had a boyfriend, but Ruth’s constant self deprecation anytime they talk can get very annoying with how many times Jennifer tried to convince her of her worth.
It’s just a bit more awkward because that was Jennifer’s line back during their last pre-timeskip fight. That Ruth was getting better and they shouldn’t be together anymore because Jennifer was poison and would ruin her.
Wanting Ruth to get laid specifically with her boss isn’t the same as wanting her to ACTUALLY ‘move on’.
Plenty of people say ‘you should date’ and what they REALLY want is for you to work out that it ‘isn’t the same/good enough’ and ask for them back or stay single because other people are ‘disappointing’. But that is a toxic way of thinking and it also doesn’t work, because there are plenty of good people out there and most people can have satisfying relationships with multiple different people.
Given Jennifer was Top Toxic Cheerleader, it is really hard to tell if she feels insulted for the reasons you stated or using toxic logic, she is actually Big Mad that Ruth didn’t fight for her or chase her. That she didn’t even try to. That she was willing to let her go and try to find love somewhere else.
Jennifer likes drama sure but she’s not been as toxic as you seem to think. Not in this way. Wanting Sal to be jealous of her boyfriend is different than wanting her ex to be hung up on her. Jen seems happy with Asher and cares enough about Ruth to also want her to be happy.
She literally encouraged Walky to be a jerk with Dorothy before because they broke up. Jennifer has not been shown to have the healthiest ideas about love or how to manage break-ups.
This might have changed because of the therapy. So what you have said is possible. But we also know that Jennifer thought it was romantic that Jason slept with Sal over grades. So I’m not fully convinced there is no warping here.
Did you read that entire storyline where Jennifer tried to hook Ruth up with Daisy? How toxic she reacted? Like. That was thermonuclear levels of toxicity right there. She’s doing alright when it comes to most other people, but it seems when it comes to Ruth in particular she turns into the absolute worst version of herself, with borderline comical levels of toxicity spewing out of every pore.
If it’s only borderline comedic levels of toxicity, Willis needs to sharpen his writing skills.
Jennifer was also trying to use getting Ruth laid to benefit her ambition in journalism, and Jennifer’s anger vanished when Ruth could be useful to her.
“The bartender.” Can’t even pull up his name.
Yeah, that’s some moved-on shit right there.
She’d said to Jennifer that she’d ended up going home with the bartender on her birthday, so it makes sense to me. It’s not like she expected Jennifer to be like “Congratulations! What’s his name?”
I guess it’s for context since Jennifer probably doesn’t know his name? Then again Ruth does seem to be a bit lost so maybe she doesn’t actually remember Jason’s name.
Pretty sure Jennifer does know his name, because he used to be her TA, and she tried to get a drink off him. Of course, Ruth wouldn’t know that.
Some people are fickle and they tell you to date someone new. But in truth they don’t really mean that and they just at the most want you to sleep around a once or twice and then stand by and be ready while they sort out their own feelings.
Ok I drew Carol. It seemed like a thing people wanted to see.
Probably won’t ever draw her again but who knows!
https://i.imgur.com/itc7nlG.png (questionable)
I usually like to see MILFs, but Carol was not at the top of my list (top of the list would be Amber’s mom).
That said, if I were him, those would probably be my fondest memories of her, too.
Especially after she’s been given the Yotomoe treatment.
I want to see it. Stacy is also probably tied with her yeah. Carol is top quality milf. I could change her! Actually probably not though. It wouldn’t be worth it. Still gotta respect the quality.
Yoto, I’m naming my firstborn after you
Sirksome….. we’re in the same boat together. I know I can’t change her but I would try my damnedest.
Ambers mom is a stone cold babe and the world is better with her in it. I can already see it now- Stacy, feeling spicy and alive again with her new husband, trying to get into cosplaying with amber and accidentally going viral because of her poorly fitting costumes. Amber is mortified, Joe furious that his dad made this weird, Stacy is living her best life.
Kind of reminds me of that scene in the “Back to the Barnyard Movie” with that one married couple where the wife if going of on the phone and ranting and the husband is sitting on his chair and to me it looks like he’s thinking “Why did I marry her again?” And it cuts to a scene of her dumptruck ass just swaying all over the place and I feel like he’s also thinking “Oh that’s right.”
lol well hopefully hank’s moved on by now but nice job
I don’t know you opinion, but I think you should draw more Carol….
Wasn’t there a strip of Hank and Carol meeting, where Hank sees her and is struck dumb? Maybe a really old bonus strip? It was pretty clear there what he saw in her 😂
Did Ruth break up with Jennifer? Did we ever get one of them saying who broke up with who? This feels like a “See, you’re doing better without me” from Ruth and a “Heck you for leaving me like that” from Jennifer kinda???
I’m thinking this, yeah.
That’s the sense I’m getting, too.
We’ll find out in roughly a month!
I‘m not sure about Jennifer’s reaction. If she still thinks the real her is a drunk asshole who should not be around people, she could be reacting to that (ie she doesn’t want to be who she really is).
Jennifer wanted Ruth to chase her and she didn’t.
Play stupid games lose pissy red dandelion buy-ins I guess
Didn’t Ruth end it, not Jennifer? Though this and plenty of other shit gives me the impression that Ruth did it for very poorly conceived reasons.
Even if Ruth did end it, that doesn’t exclude the possibility of Jennifer being mad that she didn’t chase her. Like. We have seen before that her ideas of love are not the healthiest. Which makes it hard to say if Jennifer is bothered by Ruth’s reasoning or she is mad because of toxic logic.
One scenario:
There’s a fight. Billie lashes out. Ruth goes “hmm you’re right. You’re better off with out me.”
Ruth didn’t chase. She decided to end the relationship.
This is not healthy but they weren’t a healthy relationship.
I seem to recall implications that Ruth was the one who called things off, right? Can’t wait to finally learn what went down.
Yeah, I’m positive that’s what happened, judging by some past stuff said. I’m getting the impression Ruth felt she had been the weak link all alone and not Jennifer/Billie.
Maaaaybe she met the parents or something.
What’s the situation with Jennifer’s parents, BTW? Some references make it sound like they are split, some references make it sound like they are together.
IIRC her dad’s away on business trips a lot, and her mom sleeps around, but as far as I know they aren’t split up? I don’t think it’s clear whether Mr. B knows about his wife’s affairs or not.
They exist and are together, but they are very absent parents that give money, not love. That’s all DoA has mentioned about them really.
Got it.
Thank you for catching me up on that!
… have these two broken up? Because I keep hearing that they’ve broken up, but then one or the other (Jennifer this time) says or does something that used to be foreplay for them, and I’m not sure any more.
They broke up over the time skip, probably during Halloween. Jennifer is dating Asher and Ruth is now with Jason.
…side note that this is my first published comment and seeing my gravatar as Joyce is just too cute.
Welcome, k! Congratulations!
Welcome to the comments section, k!!!! 😊
We’re a diverse community that just likes screwing around, discussing things, and just having lots of fun!!!!
Also great music!!!! 😍
*plays “Mitsuha No Tsugaku” on hacked muzak*
The random Gravatar algorithm decided to triangle-smile upon you.
(Yes, I know. But that’s still what their foreplay sounded like, so are they really REALLY broken up?)
Oh my bad! I didn’t catch the sarcasm, lol carry on!
i kinda figure they’re broken up on paper, but since they’re still doing the same things they did while together, they’re kinda still together? theirs has been the most emotionally complicated couple plot.
What’s that saying about living your life being the best revenge?
There’s a lot that can be said for doing something that you feel is the “right” move, rather than one you want to make, when it comes to relationships, but there’s also such a thing as self-destructive decisions, patronizing decisions made for your partner, and not respecting your partner’s agency, and I feel Ruth may have ended up in the latter camp out of misplaced noble intentions.
Okay folks time to put on your Sherlock Holmes hats cause I think I’ve solved their breakup. Remember months from now that it was Sirksome who got it right first….(Unless I’m wrong or someone came up with this before me.)
Okay first of all it’s pretty clear Ruth broke up with Billie/Jennifer now. All the classic signs are there. Jennifer’s sporting the post getting dumped haircut trope. Ruth essentially admitted it to Daisy on their date, and has asked Jennifer for forgiveness.
Why did they break up? Their common vice alcohol. But it’s not because of who you think. Ruth couldn’t quit drinking. This is proven by her getting drunk on her 21st birthday! I used to think it was Billie but Jennifer has not been shown consuming a drop post timeskip. Jennifer has also argued with Ruth claiming “she only thinks of herself” and cryptically telling Joyce “she’s cared too much” just recently at the doctor.
My current theory is that after Ruth got adjusted to her meds she wanted to go back to drinking but a fresh off therapy Billie wanted to stay sober, which is ironic since she was the one sneaking drinks their first attempt at sobriety. This is a fact Ruth probably brought up. So Ruth dumped her so Jennifer could go off into the sunset as a better person without the Ruth baggage. Fitting for Ruth since she is so self loathing.
That’s my theory. I called it. @ me in like five months or whatever to fact check this. I’ll still be reading them. We will all know.
i think you might be right. But i think it will take 2-3 years to find out at this rate, not months
…plausible.
Also, I didn’t notice the “Flag” link until I clicked it while trying to click “Reply”. 🙁
I think you’re probably right. That’s where all the hints are pointing, unless it’s misdirection and there’s a surprise
phoneplot twist coming.I know how this works, the more Billie hates Ruth, the more she wants to fuck her. Thank goodness Jennifer is in charge.
I’m really glad we are getting Halloween. I hate the future.
If it makes you feel any better, I’m working on a DOA game that’s might just make up for the loss of the Halloweens prior. 🎃
My initial read is that Jennifer needs to climb out of her own ass and get over herself. I’m not saying that Ruth is handling this WELL but she seems to be casting for an olive branch of some kind.
Jennifer just seems to be deciding that if Ruth does something that benefits Jennifer, civility is OK, but anything NOT explicitly to her benefit is just rage fuel.
Very interesting pattern, that.
Did Walky and Amber finally break up and Mike die over Halloween, or is that something my mind made up?
It’s been implied that thats when Amber and Walky broke up
Still unclear about Mike, though we should find out in the next chapter
Amazing how Jennifer didn’t hate Ruth more when she opened her mouth in service of potentially helping Jennifer’s ambitions in journalism.
Billie. Holy fuck.
Your rage would be a lot more sympathetic in nature if it was not clear that you want everyone to act the way you want all the time.
I really can’t understand Jennifer. Ruth seems happy now. This was what she wanted, but now she’s furious? Why? She actually wanted Ruth to be forever sad without her? What a disaster character she is?!
That’s what she said she wanted, but what she actually wanted was for their breakup to play out like a teen drama movie.
IMO: yes, what you said.
Good talk
What is it, Jennifer
Was Ruth a fase that you’ve outgrown or what
I think Jennifer wants to claim that she’s moved on but feel that Ruth is still holding a torch for her.
(also flagged by mistake, sorry about that :p )
She actually claimed pretty much exactly that.
Everyone’s mad at Billie for not reacting appropriately, but her Ex just sorta vomited “I MOVED ON, AND HAVE A BOYFRIEND NOW” At her, and surprise, she’s not taking it super well.
Maybe let the scene play out before we start screaming at Jennifer for being a horrible rage monster that you can’t sympathize due to not understanding her.
She opened the door for Ruth with her needlessly catty “oh, because you want to drop that bomb yourself” swipe yesterday.
I feel like if it’s true, it’s not a swipe, though?
It is still a swipe even if true as it was a passing comment she was making as an attack on Ruth’s character. Ruth only said one and a half sentences to her before she said it and neither warranted a hostile response, Jennifer just went in hostile.
It’s not an “attack on Ruth’s character” if it’s true. If I say “Trump is a toxic narcissist”, I’m not attacking Trump’s character.
Lmao “An attack on Ruth’s character”
It’s not an attack if it’s pointing out an established personality trait, is it also an attack on Ruth’s character if you point out she likes to threaten her charges with physical violation and femur removal?
But that is EXACTLY what Ruth wants to do.
Jennifer had no way of actually knowing that, she was being needlessly hostile
Considering she’s the second person to say Ruth wants to do it, I’d say Jennifer “had no way of knowing that” in the same way we have no way of knowing if Mitch McConnell will support any progressive bills.
They dated for several months, I am fairly confident Jennifer is very well aware of the vindictive nature of Ruth and what she would do.
All the previous conversations between them seemed to focus around the fact that Jennifer wanted Ruth to move on and say something like that to her. Now Ruth did it and she’s angry… Sorry, but I can’t be on Jennifer’s sides in this strip. You can’t understand what she wants at all!
Nobody’s calling her a rage monster.
Jennifer: “I’ve moved on. You haven’t moved on.
Jennifer: “I’m in a good, stable relationship now, with a boyfriend.
I don’t know about rage monster, but she’s being a tad hypocritical here.
Word of Willis is that Ruth has, in fact, not moved on.
Yeah, I mean we can see that all over her face in this strip. She does seem to be trying though, and my point is that essentially nothing has been said in this strip by Ruth that Jennifer hasn’t said to her already.
Ruth: Billie killed her old self and became Jennifer, so what I told you was true from a certain point of view.
Joyce: That’s just another word for lying!
What’s that reference? I recall the line but not the strip.
It’s a Star Wars reference. (Return of the Jedi, specifically). When Obi-wan told Luke that Darth Vader killed his father, he explained later that the good man that was Anakin Skywalker died, and he became Darth Vader. So what he told Luke was true, from a certain point of view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nO0uJenOgw
Oh, yes, that was it.
Thank you!🙏
IIRC That’s how they wallpapered over the plot hole caused by the “Vader is Luke’s father” retcon, a twist added after George Lucas was stuck polishing up the Empire Strikes Back script after the original writer died of cancer.
Oh yes angsty sapphics. This is *exactly* what I want.
Running dangerously low on sapphic angst. Some hook Joyce up with Sal, stat!
Jennifer, so contrary. In fact she seems to spend literally all her energy since the time skip trying to be the opposite of anything anyone suggests she might be. I think there is something she’s not honest with herself about. Whatever it might be.
(Well, in the best case, it could also be something that has to end with Asher’s head on a stick.)
I just checked the cast page, and Asher is one of the best people in it. Ruth is one of the worst. Going from Ruth to Asher is a huge partner upgrade.
Yes being intimate with Asher is probably very profitable for you. Unless either his bosses or their enemies decide it would be more profitable for them to kill you.
First, Asher doesn’t have bosses. The entire point of Baline being able to blackmail him is that Asher is no longer working for the mob.
Second, between Ruth and Asher, only of them has routinely assaulted people under their care, and it wasn’t Asher.
Third, I somehow just KNOW that you weren’t this concerned about potentially violent relatives when Amber was dating someone, even though Blaine is definitely the most violent person to appear in the comic so far.
No, I’m this concerned about potentially violent boyfriends. I don’t believe he’s completely free from the mob, and I don’t believe hurting people bothers him at all. I trust Ruth’s occasional thirst for femurs more than Asher’s perpetual bemused smirk. You don’t have to agree.
We can just say Ruth has bough a lot of “sure”s from me, with all we have seen about her struggles with responsibility and depression and the loss of her parents and being perpetually trapped with her little brother being held hostage by an abuser, and her many portrayed acts of compassion and tenderness, and trying to work on being better at the job she can’t escape.
Asher, meanwhile, has a huge “sure” deficit. It could change if we get to know more about him, but literally everything we have seen of him ranges from sketchy to reprehensible. I don’t even “want” to read about him or his friend group, they’re all among the least interesting and least sympathetic characters in the comic and I think I’d be happier if they went away before they finish dragging Jennifer down with them.
But, I should point out, I’m sure you have your reasons for liking him, or if it’s disliking everyone else more. I don’t want to argue with them.
Jennifer: I’m so much better now
Ruth: you’re so much better now, Jennifer.
Jennifer: FUCK YOU
god she’s trying to overtake joyce for being insufferable in some of these.
What I’m hearing Ruth say here is: I made the decision to have us break up for your own good. And also, I didn’t want you to relapse into being an asshole.
And man, that’s terrible. I genuinely thought Ruth had it together until that point. At the very least, throwing any of that at your ex is not how you make things better.
So, even if you weren’t happy that the ex you broke up with moved on, normally, you’d swallow that down and say “Good, I’m happy for you.” Jennifer’s anger just shows that she still cares, in her contrarian, self-destructive way.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/03-see-you-in-the-funny-page/rightleft/
Based on their past mutual strips for this book, it looks like Ruth did indeed break up with Jennifer, who is still pretty peeved about it.
Alternatively, Ruth did something that was a deal breaker to Jennifer, or Jennifer found out something about Ruth’s past that was a deal breaker, and Jennifer ended it, and in that regards it’s Ruth’s “fault”. It could go either way, really. Can’t wait for the next storyline…
Ruth must have brought Jennifer to the church. That’s the only way to explain her anger.
Billie still comes across as a grade-A jerk.
Yeah maybe Jennifer is overreacting, we don’t know what went on between the two of them.
This kind of self-hatred inserted into an otherwise normal conversation is very distressing and disruptive though. The feelings are real and should be addressed…. but not by Jennifer who is no longer dating Ruth and is just trying to go about her business.
I looove angsty, messy sapphics so much. It’s just so damn interesting. How do you adjust to life after a history so deep you had a suicide pact? I gotta draw these girls.
Oh no Jennifer 🙁
I really want to see what happened that caused their break-up.
Halloween happened.
And yes, I want to see Halloween too.
Is it just me, or is this actually the first confirmation of Ruth/Jason relationship status beyond “hangs out in her room, sometimes in his undies, who knows if it’s committed relationship or just a few hookups or some weird thing that doesn’t actually fall under a sex/romance heading”?
On the other hand, she’s shouting this to her ex. She might as well tell her he lives in Canada, which in her case would be more believable.
They’ve been seen holding hands in public.
Sorry: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-12/02-ill-leave-you-a-phantom/reallearning/
So many issues here, but my main one is….
Having a new partner is neither proof nor requirement for “moving on”!
Radar has detected an unidentified Halloween flashback approaching!
Hope so
Yeah why Ruth said here is a bit out of line, but I get the feeling she was saying it in an attempt to go “hey look it all worked out!” And Jennifer is. Well. Being herself, I guess. Absolutely never happy with someone doing the exact thing she’s doing herself.
Maybe I’m projecting but the kind of person that tries to “reinvent” themselves instead of just moving on always irks me. It’s fine to want a fresh start but that doesn’t mean you have to light a bridge on fire and go “LOOK AT HOW SO MUCH BETTER THIS IS!!”
Absolutely. Also change doesn’t come quickly, so a reinvention always strikes me as being some level of lying to oneself and everyone else, and I think it’s telling when the response to someone questioning a reinvention or acknowledging old patterns is met with anger.
We’re turning saints into the sea.
Hooray!!!! 🥳
You know I dont buy this all of a sudden she’s the mom of the group stuff I mean she was the one shrugging off school-ordered therapy and basing her meal plans on where she could get away with getting drunk by 10 am
Well her brand of team momness involved getting out of really shitty situations once you got into them, not avoiding them altogether.
Seeing Ruth slowly break like this is heart breaking
I’m thinking that Ruth took something Rachel said once to heart. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/redemption/
Ruth may have eventually come to agree with that and that Billie would be better off without her. Billie took that badly (an understandable response) and became Jennifer to prove to Ruth (and herself) that people really can change.
Excellent insight!
I really want to see Rachels backstory
Cool!
I think the part Jennifer really took umbrage with was the “I was just stopping you from becoming who you are” to be honest, regardless of Ruth having moved on or no.
First it was Walky, and now Ruth; Jennifer is lashing out at anyone who reminds her, of when she was Billie. This so comes across as some serious self-loathing; she hates, “Billie”, or she has convinced herself of that; but instead of looking into why she feels that way, she blames those around her, for causing her to feel that way. She is going to lose everyone, if she does not address this.